1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to telecommunication and data communication services. More particularly, and not by way of any limitation, the present invention is directed to a call waiting service in a multimedia-capable next-generation network.
2. Description of Related Art
Over the last two decades or so, telecommunication services have evolved rapidly from simple telephone calls and fax communications to a host of advanced services such as multi-party conferences, voice mail, call forwarding, caller ID, call waiting, et cetera. This rapid evolution has been made possible primarily due to the successful deployment of the Intelligent Network (IN) and Advanced IN (AIN) architecture using Signaling System No. 7 (SS7) as the out-of-band signaling protocol infrastructure. Similarly, data services have also followed a significant transformation from basic text messaging in the 1980s to the World Wide Web and Internet of today, where transporting diverse media has become commonplace. For example, bandwidth-intensive services such as desktop video conferencing, video on demand, telemedicine, real-time audio, and many other applications are driving the demand for simultaneous support of different types of services on the same public network.
Coupled with the phenomenal popularity of the Internet, recently there has been a tremendous interest in using the packet-switched network (PSN) infrastructure employed in the data networks (e.g., those based on Internet Protocol (IP) addressing) as a replacement for, and/or as an adjunct to, the existing circuit-switched network (CSN) infrastructure deployed in today""s voice networks. Several advantages are expected to be realized due to such integration. From network operators"" viewpoint, the inherent traffic aggregation in PSN allows for a reduction in the cost of transmission and the infrastructure cost per end-user. Ultimately, such cost reductions enable the network operators to pass on the savings to subscribers or, more generally, users. Also, operators of a new breed of service-centric networks (referred to as next-generation networks, distinct from the existing voice-centric and data-centric networks) can offer enhanced services with integrated voice/data/video to users who will be using endpoints of diverse multimedia capabilities.
As alluded to hereinabove, several advances have taken place in both data and voice services. However, the current data-centric and voice-centric services do not provide the gamut of enhancements that are possible with the use of multimedia capabilities in a next-generation network.
Accordingly, the present invention advantageously provides an enhanced call waiting service in a multimedia-capable network wherein one or more calls waiting to be serviced are accorded different treatments based on a number of subscriber-selectable features. Preferably, the multimedia-capable network is provisioned as a next-generation network having a decoupled service architecture that is facilitated by the use of multimedia softswitch technology.
In one aspect, the present invention is directed to a call treatment method for use in a multimedia-capable next-generation network. When a network element serving a subscriber currently engaged in an established call connection with a party receives an indication that an incoming call is being directed towards the subscriber from at least one calling party, a multimedia session engine is invoked by the network element to launch a call treatment application for the subscriber. If the number of calls allowed to wait on the subscriber exceeds a predetermined maximum value, the incoming call is accorded a predetermined default treatment. Otherwise, the call treatment application is operable to query a subscriber profile associated with the subscriber to determine a suitable multimedia interface to be presented for effectuating a response to the incoming call without disrupting the established call connection, preferably by using a browser-based interactive system.
Depending on how the service architecture is implemented, the call treatment application may be provisioned as a service application hosted on a third-party server platform coupled to a public packet-switched network (e.g., the Internet), as a telecom-hardened, carrier-class service application hosted on dedicated IN/AIN-compliant nodes such as multimedia Service Control Points (SCPs) and application servers, or as a centralized service with service logic embedded in SS7 nodes (e.g., Service Switching Points or SSPs) and multimedia softswtich elements.
In one exemplary embodiment, the call treatment application is operable to service multiple waiting calls at the same time, wherein distinct multimedia responses may be provided to each call. Preferably, stored or live audio clips, video clips, text messages, text-to-speech messages, graphics, animation, etc. can be connected to the waiting call in queue by employing a browser-based xe2x80x9cdrag-and-dropxe2x80x9d scheme in conjunction with a multimedia intelligent terminal (either a computer-based device or a dedicated intelligent telephony station having a multimedia-based man/machine interface). In another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the call waiting notification to the subscriber and/or the response thereto may be dependent on calling party ID or profile information, terminal capabilities, time-of-day of the incoming call, its order of arrival, etc.
In another aspect, the present invention is directed to a computer-accessible medium operable with a network element disposed in a multimedia-capable next-generation network. The computer-accessible medium is further operable to carry a sequence of instructions which, when executed by at least one processing entity associated with the network, cause to be performed at least a portion of the steps of the multimedia call waiting method set forth hereinabove.
In yet another aspect, the present invention is directed to a call treatment system for use in a multimedia-capable network. A multimedia network element is provided for serving a subscriber currently engaged in an established call connection with a party. The network element is operable to receive an indication that an incoming call is being directed to the subscriber from at least one calling party when one or more additional calls are placed to the subscriber during the established call connection. Responsive to the indication received at the network element, a multimedia session engine associated with the network element is operable to launch a call treatment application for the subscriber. Multimedia-capable service logic program infrastructure associated with the call treatment application is provided for querying a subscriber profile stored in a database to determine a suitable multimedia interface to be presented to the subscriber for effectuating a response to the incoming call. One or more video/still cameras, microphones, display screens, keyboards, pointing devices, joy sticks, track balls, voice recorders, audio-to-text or text-to-audio converters, and the like are provided for activating at least a portion of the multimedia interface by the subscriber to effectuate a multimedia response to the incoming call without disrupting the established call connection. In addition, a suitable browser interface may preferably be included for effectuating drag-and-drop interaction with respect to providing multimedia responses and for originating and/or terminating multimedia calls.